Church Fellowship

Christians ( I’m a Christian by the way ), Can you cite the list of "fundamentals" for me?

I mean…we have heard of the apostles creed, and other such creeds.

Do you think it is scriptural to say that there are certain fundamentals of the faith that we are to agree upon?

For instance, there is a great divide among many fellowships these days.

Catholics believe one thing. Church of Christ Denomination believes another. Assembly of God denomination believes one thing and the Baptists another? What’s the deal?

If there are fundamentals of the faith then shouldn’t we just agree on those and nothing else really matters?

The problem, however, as I see it…if we write down a list of fundamentals of the faith that we must believe in to be brethren…then when you get on a website and read that one Baptist Church has a list of 10 fundamentals and another Baptist Church has a list of only 6 fundamentals doesn’t that dictate that inherently…..they cannot be brethren?

The most fundamental of all Christian beliefs is that Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day thereafter. The second most basic belief is that Jesus was born of a virgin. These beliefs are shared by all people who call themselves "Christian". All other creeds, doctrines, etc. are man made.

Fellowship Baptist Church

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Since Georgetown enjoys such a prominent role in the political realm of our Republic, I ask this in the Politics section.

excerpts from an October 2006 article "Georgetown U. expels Protestant Organizations:

"Evangelical student organizations have had a place at many Catholic universities for decades.

"But for the groups at Georgetown University, a Jesuit campus, news that Protestant organizations were being expelled came as a shock.

"In mid-August, the leaders of six campus organizations received a letter from chaplain Rev. Constance Wheeler, claiming that “restructuring” the Protestant campus ministry leaves no room for “affiliated ministries,” and that such things as Bible studies, mid-week worship, retreats with Georgetown students or helping students move in are no longer permitted.

"The affected ministries include InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (Undergraduate), InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (Graduate), Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, Georgetown Community Church, Crossroad Campus Christian Fellowship and Asian Baptist Student Koinonia.

"Some of the groups are making plans to meet off campus. Georgetown may allow students to start their own student-led religious groups on campus.

"While private universities have the freedom to set policies that may be more restrictive than public campuses, in this case the organizations’ leaders are surprised about what has happened.

“What confuses many of us here close to the situation at Georgetown is this,” says Kevin Offner, a staff worker with InterVarsity’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries.

“What have the six ejected affiliated Protestant ministries done wrong that has merited their expulsion?

Whenever a Georgetown administrator is asked this question, the answer is always, ‘Nothing—we’re simply restructuring.’”
______________

Perhaps helping students move in is a radical activity?

http://www.intervarsity.org/studentsoul/item/georgetown-chapter

Resonance beyond the campus:

"Georgetown is one of a few universities that receive money from the federal government under Title VI of the Higher Education Act for Middle East Studies centers to develop approved K-12 Middle East curriculum. This program has been used by the Saudis to circumvent educational oversight.

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/4803
.

Good question. Maybe that staff needs a little "restructuring".
I feel these occurrences throughout the world are all part of the same effort. The destruction of Christianity. Something is happening on a spiritual level.

DLastRomeohttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/dlastromeoPeopleFellowship, Baptist, Church, Live5New Years Eve 2010, Fellowship Baptist Church. Charles Jenkins 5 of 5

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Hyles Anderson College in Crown Point, IN.

From it’s website:

MAYBE YOU WOULDN’T LIKE…
OUR DRESS CODE
Many think our dress code is too strict. Skirts above the knees are not allowed. Men must wear neckties to class and must have short haircuts. Young ladies may not wear shorts or slacks.
OUR OLD-FASHIONED DISCIPLINE
Young ladies are not allowed to go off campus unchaperoned. Young men and young ladies may not date alone in cars. Absolutely no hand holding or other intimacies are allowed between the sexes. There are date nights with bus transportation and adequate chaperones provided by the college. Student insubordination is absolutely forbidden.
OUR INTENSE EVANGELISTIC ATMOSPHERE
All faculty, staff, and students are required to go soul winning weekly. Students participate in the evangelistic ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.
OUR FUNDAMENTALIST EMPHASIS
We are fundamentalists and use the term proudly. We believe in a literal Hell which has fire and brimstone and a literal Heaven with streets of gold. We stand for the King James Bible as the only Bible and the local New Testament church as the only true church. We believe in redemption through the blood of Christ, salvation by grace through faith alone, and the premillennial second coming of Jesus Christ.
OUR SEPARATIST POSITION
Absolutely no drinking, smoking, or dancing is allowed. No student is allowed to attend Hollywood movies, play cards, or participate in other questionable amusements. We do not fellowship with liberals, but instead take a strict separatist stand from the world and apostasy.
OUR EMPHASIS ON CULTURE
We believe in students learning and practicing propriety. We oppose the paganistic, barbaric humanism that prevails on many campuses. We believe in refinement, dignity, courtesy, proper manners, and Christian grace.
OUR EMPHASIS ON THE PRACTICAL
We blend the finest of scholarship with the best practical teaching possible. We teach not only what to do but how to do it.

i could deal with the dress code but they lost me on the rest i would be kicked out in 8 hours for smoking

I grew up in a Southern baptist church and my dad was and still is a preacher. I was "saved" when I was little, and then again as an adult I "rededicated" my life to Christ several times. In the past couple of years though I have begun to believe God doesn’t exist. It just doesn’t make any sense to me logically. I now consider myself an agnostic. I’m not sure God exists, but I’m not bold enough to come right out and say I’m positive that He doesn’t exist. I just don’t see any evidence that convinces me he does. My mom says I just need to get back in church, but I don’t want to go to any organized church. I don’t want to pray or read the Bible or do any of that stuff, I think it’s all malarky. What am I, an agnostic, an atheist, or "saved" but just have "fallen" out of fellowship?
by the way, for those who say I’m young and just going through a stage, I’m 37! You’d think I’d have all of this figured out by now! LOL

First of all the "once saved always saved" premise of salvation is NOT scriptural.

Jesus made it very clear that: "he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved." -Matthew 10:22

The end being either the end of your life or the end of this wicked world we find ourselves wandering through.

It is stated in the Bible that "the day of death than the day of one’s being born" – Ecclesiastes 7:1
The reason is that hopefully by the day of your death you have been able to learn about and form a personal relationship with the Creator. When we are born we do not automatically have that relationship which must be learned and nurtured.

I know personally that study of the fulfilled prophecies that are contained in the Bible helped me to have greater faith that the Bible honestly was the Word of God. That faith grew the more I studied. Remember, if someone tells you the truth a thousand times would you expect anything different? Wouldn’t your trust grow? Almighty God does not want us to just believe he exists blindly as many religious organization may try to assert. He gives us proof, but our heart must be yearning for that proof and work hard to build the faith that can be formed by it. Anyone can believe, but it takes more, much more to exercise our faith

Reverend Mother Consuella York at Christian Tabernacle – Fellowship Baptist Church – Pastor Clay Evans

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Have you heard about the World Council of Churches (WCC)?

What do you think of them? Is your church a member?

The following is from their website: http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=1637

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity.

The WCC brings together 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians and including most of the world’s Orthodox churches, scores of denominations from such historic traditions of the Protestant Reformation as Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed, as well as many united and independent churches. While the bulk of the WCC’s founding churches were European and North American, today most are in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific.

For its member churches, the WCC is a unique space: one in which they can reflect, speak, act, worship and work together, challenge and support each other, share and debate with each other. As members of this fellowship, WCC member churches:

* are called to the goal of visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship;

* promote their common witness in work for mission and evangelism;

* engage in Christian service by serving human need, breaking down barriers between people, seeking justice and peace, and upholding the integrity of creation; and

* foster renewal in unity, worship, mission and service.

1 John 2:15 " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

Rilma Thibodeaux and the Fellowship Music Department hosted her childhood friend, Sis. Helen J. H. Stephens, currently of California. Sis. Stephen’s is a world-famous gospel choir director, pianist, and composer/arranger. This is in 1997 and the selection is “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord”.

The music ministry at Fellowship was made famous by the late Sis. Rilma “Kathy” Thibodeaux. Sis. Thibodeaux served as the Minister of Music of Fellowship for over two decades; and was also one of its charter members.

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This is from the NY DAILY NEWS:

Call it the stimulus package from God.

Manhattan’s Riverside Church – one of the country’s most illustrious religious institutions – is paying its new senior pastor, the Rev. Brad Braxton, more than $600,000 in annual compensation.

That’s twice what Braxton’s predecessor, James Forbes, one of the country’s best-known preachers, was getting after running Riverside for more than 18 years.

It amounts to almost 10 times what William Sloane Coffin, the legendary anti-Vietnam War clergyman, was paid in his last year as senior minister at Riverside in 1987.

Braxton was selected in a vote of the congregation last fall and is to be officially installed Sunday.

A group of church dissidents claims the members were never told about the lavish package.

Those dissidents filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last week to stop Braxton’s installation, revealing a growing divide among the church’s 1,500 members.

The Wall Street-like package, the dissidents say, is outrageous for a man of the cloth – especially when you consider Riverside’s long history of advocating social justice.

Church sources say it includes:

$250,000 in salary.
$11,500 monthly housing allowance.
Private school tuition for his child.
A full-time maid.
Entertainment, travel and "professional development" allowances.
Pension and life insurance benefits.
An equity allowance for Braxton to save up to buy a home.
On top of that, Braxton immediately hired a new second in command at more than $300,000 a year.

"Where’s the social justice in this?" said Diana Solomon-Glover, a member of the church choir and one of the petitioners in the suit.

"We have an economic crisis in the country, and none of the church staff are getting raises this year, but a few people at the top are getting these huge salaries?"

In a hearing Tuesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lewis Bart Stone denied the dissidents’ request to delay Sunday’s installation. The judge urged church leaders to provide the opposition a fair chance to be heard by the church membership.

He adjourned the case until after a special meeting of the congregation scheduled for May 3.

The two sides should find a way to achieve "some form of fellowship and reconciliation between members of the church," Stone said, to "prevent a split."

"They [the dissidents] don’t want to accept that the majority has already spoken," said Sarah Conly, who backs Braxton. The vote last fall to appoint Braxton was overwhelming, his supporters say.

"I don’t know why they even brought this case into court," said Jean Schmidt, vice chair of the Church Council, one of the key officials who brought in Braxton.

"If the members of the church had known what his total compensation was when we voted, we wouldn’t have chosen him," said Virl Andrick, a 25-year member of the church and of its budget and planning commission.

Only a tiny group in the leadership has details of the contract, he said.

"There’s a problem with the process," Andrick said. As an interdenominational church, Riverside is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches, but the two denominations have very distinct governing philosophies.

Congregational churches "have complete transparency on finances," Andrick said. "Members know everything about the church’s finances and the pastor’s salary."

Baptist churches, on the other hand, tend to keep vital information among key church leaders.

Just a thought

For those who want to know the truth about tithing. This is what the Bible really teaches us about it. Look up the verses in your Bible!

Religion
How Should It Be Financed?

Giving That Brings Joy
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20021201/article_02.htm

God Bless!